CDC Releases Opioid Prescribing Rate Maps

Earlier this month, we released the issue of CDC Vital Signs which featured different facets of opioid prescribing from 2006 to 2015, including the amounts of opioids prescribed (morphine milligram equivalents per capita per county), prescription dosages, and days supply, as well as county-level factors associated with increased amounts of opioids prescribed.

Today, we are pleased to announce that we are launching new online maps that show annual opioid prescribing rates from 2006 to 2016, both by state and by county. This new resource includes data not previously reported elsewhere: prescribing rates at national, state and county levels in 2016 and prescribing rates for all states and all counties from 2006 to 2016. The maps are interactive, equipped with the ability to zoom in and out and hover over a county or state for the prescribing rate.

Overall, the opioid prescribing rate increased until 2012 and then has declined from 2012 to 2016. In 2016, the national prescribing rate had fallen to the lowest it had been in more than 10 years at 66.5 prescriptions per 100 persons, but remained very high in areas across the country; some counties even had rates that were seven times higher than the national rate.